Sometimes he ate lunch with colleagues, other times with Su Huanliu—the building where Su worked housed an exceptionally large cafeteria serving delicious, affordable meals. Normally closed to the public, regular employees weren’t permitted to bring outsiders to dine there. But Su Huanliu wasn’t just any “regular employee.” Whenever he spotted dishes Fa Muzhi liked on the weekly menu, he’d call him up, and the two would dine together in the institute’s cafeteria.

The food there was genuinely delicious. Following Su Huanliu’s suggestion, Fa Muzhi had packed meals from there for his own colleagues back at his company several times. Each time, they’d devour everything. It could be said that the only people who looked forward to eating in the neighboring building more than Fa Muzhi himself were probably his colleagues.

On days they didn’t dine at Su Huanliu’s institute cafeteria, their meals were still quite good.

Su Huanliu always knew the best restaurants nearby—which chef prepared authentic dishes at which eatery, what seasonal foods to eat when, and the best cooking methods for each ingredient… Su Huanliu rattled off these details like they were second nature. As a result, even Fa Muzhi, who always followed him for lunch, became known among outsiders as a “food connoisseur.” To some extent, his smooth integration into the current company owed much to this very trait—after all, good food is always one of the best ways to break the ice socially.

Since Fa Muzhi always brought food back from the neighboring cafeteria to share with colleagues, they reciprocated—bringing him treats from fancy restaurants when they dined out. With their small company, this mutual exchange flourished. Fa Muzhi heard that finance roles in most companies were notoriously difficult, constantly drawing complaints. But him? Though he occasionally faced criticism, his work flowed smoothly.

This made it hard for him to relate to the complaints of classmates who had since become accountants or cashiers at various companies.

This ease, in fact, stemmed from Su Huanliu’s guidance.

Back in school, he tutored him; after graduation, he helped him integrate into the workplace as quickly as possible… Yeah, ever since they packed food from the grad school cafeteria for colleagues, Su Huanliu’s help had been subtle and unobtrusive, trying not to draw attention so he wouldn’t notice. Yet he knew everything.

And Su Huanliu’s help didn’t stop there—

That day at noon, he also ate lunch with Su Huanliu, but not at the cafeteria in the neighboring building. Instead, they went to the restaurant Su Huanliu had just discovered.

Not near the office—they’d taken Su Huanliu’s sports car there. You could say that since buying it, the car’s primary job was ferrying them to distant restaurants for lunch.

It seemed to fulfill the car’s greatest duty, yet also like it completely neglected its responsibilities.

“…We can sell this stock. After selling, buy a little of that one. Don’t hold it too long. Wait until… hmm, when it’s time to offload, I’ll call you.”

While he was still savoring the undeniably delicious rice rolls, Su Huanliu had already stopped eating after just a few bites. To aid digestion, he opened an app and began instructing Fa Muzhi on stock trades.

“You have my account password. You can handle it for me when the time comes.” With just that one sentence, Fa Muzhi buried his head back in his meal—that was the nature of their relationship. For anyone else, such a request would be unreasonable.

Su Huanliu chuckled. “That’s fine too, but I’ll still give you a heads-up beforehand.”

“I trust your judgment. You don’t need to tell me.” By then, Fa Muzhi had finished his portion. Seeing Su Huanliu’s plate still half-full, he didn’t bother explaining—he simply pulled it over and started eating.

Su Huanliu then had his bodyguard ask the small restaurant owner to bring another serving of digestive soup.

After finishing the soup, they didn’t head back immediately. Instead, they sought out nearby spots suitable for flower viewing, quietly admiring the spring blossoms in various locations. Only then did they time their departure precisely to catch the sports car ride back.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

Before the blooming season ended, Su Huanliu would constantly seek out delicious restaurants near the flower-viewing spots. Though the challenge was greater, it was no problem for him.

Most people might not understand why they went to such lengths just to have a meal while enjoying the flowers. But Fa Muzhi understood perfectly—or rather, it had become their habit.

Their bond formed through flower viewing, later blossoming into shared desks and friendship. From that moment on, they spent every blooming season together. Not just cherry blossoms in spring, but peach blossoms in summer, red maple and ginkgo in autumn… They tracked nearly every flower’s season, traveling to various places following these blooms.

Wasn’t it mentioned earlier that he discovered this place was a parallel world to his previous one because of Su Huanliu?

To be precise, it was because of this shared “flower-viewing hobby” between them.

Their flower-viewing plans were always initiated by Su Huanliu—on days when he was “too exhausted” to attend class, he’d curl up beside Fa Muzhi, watching him teach while searching through various flowering calendars.

That day, they decided to travel farther afield to admire a locally unique hydrangea variety.

“They say it’s an endemic species, blooming on a massive scale. It’s peak season now, but it will fade next week. How about this Saturday? I’m heading to the neighboring city this Friday—shall we meet there instead of traveling together?” Su Huanliu suggested, as usual.

And as always, he agreed.

With his parents and siblings away year-round, he felt at home anywhere. Rather than staying alone in the house, he preferred to go flower viewing with Su Huanliu.

But this time, the proposed flower-viewing spot was a bit far—in a city quite a distance away. Fa Muzhi hesitated for a moment. Of course, he wasn’t hesitating about whether to go. He had already agreed to Su Huanliu’s invitation. At that time, Fa Muzhi was fifteen years old. A boy that age had already done many things on his own, but precisely because he had already shouldered so many responsibilities, his hesitation was about “how to get there.”

The place marked on the map was quite a distance from Central City, though closer to where he currently lived. From an economic standpoint, it seemed faster to depart from home…

So, without overthinking it, he rose early that day and set out before dawn. Without a driver’s license, he rode a bike—his family’s truck storage area now held two bicycles—pedaling until he reached a populated area. Before continuing his journey, he used his dad’s phone to buy a train ticket.

His own student phone only had basic functions; buying tickets still required the old phones his parents left at home.

Then he boarded the high-speed train and headed alone to his cherry blossom destination—Xijing City.

Then… he never saw Su Huanliu.

When his calls went unanswered, repeatedly prompting “The number you dialed is not in service,” Fa Muzhi, who’d been feeling a bit annoyed, frowned at the persistent message.

He hastily snapped a photo at the entrance as proof of his visit before heading back.

He returned the same way he came. The next day, when he went to Zhongdu City for a make-up lesson via the tree branch—yes, they had another piano lesson scheduled the following day—Su Huanliu immediately confronted him with a pout.

“Why didn’t you show up that day, Fa Muzhi? I waited forever over there. I couldn’t get through on the phone. Where the heck did you go?”

As he spoke, he pulled out a photo.

A photo taken at the entrance of Hydrangea Garden.

In the photo, Su Huanliu looked a bit aggrieved but still smiled, backpack on his shoulders. He stood to the left of the blooming hydrangea flowerbed at the garden entrance.

The moment he saw this photo, Fa Muzhi felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. His whole body went cold.

This photo was all too familiar—because he had an identical one in his phone gallery!

The same weather, the same lighting, the same spot. The photo he’d taken yesterday at the entrance to Hydrangea Garden was exactly like the one Su Huanliu had given him, except their positions were reversed! Su Huanliu stood on the left side of the flowerbed, while he had stood on the right!

He didn’t need to check the time to know these two photos were probably taken at the exact same moment.

Why? Because even the random passerby who accidentally walked into the frame was the same!

On his way home yesterday, he’d studied that photo countless times. He knew exactly how many people were in it. He wasn’t particularly obsessed with photography, so he didn’t pay much attention to those people in the frame. It was just that the road was boring, there weren’t many people around, and before he knew it, Fa Muzhi had captured them.

Then, when he saw the photo in Su Huanliu’s hand, he discovered that the number of people, the individuals themselves, and even their movements in the frame were exactly the same as in the photo he had taken.

At the same time, in the same place, he and Su Huanliu had taken photos. Yet he hadn’t seen Su Huanliu, nor had Su Huanliu seen him.

If the two photos were superimposed, everything in them would align perfectly—except for him and Su Huanliu. Instead, positioned left and right, they could just about form a single group photo…

What did this mean?

This world—

That day, after living in this world for years, Fa Muzhi belatedly realized he too had ended up in a different world.

A parallel world.